The Fallacy of Division By Zero
by kyrilu
Summary: Harry Potter & the Methods of Rationality fan-fanfiction. The answer is not one or the other.  About defying a prophecy - Harry & Quirrell-centric.


Title: The Fallacy of Division By Zero  
>Author: Endless-chan<br>Genre: Recursive Fanfiction; angst/fantasy.  
>Rating: PGK+  
>CharactersPairings: Harry-centric, touches on the Harry + Voldemort (Quirrel) dynamic.  
>Warnings: Brief mention of minor character death (Potter family).<br>Spoilers: oh yes - for the Patronus and the Azkaban incident, and I'm going with the conclusion that Quirrel=Voldemort, if anyone hasn't figured that out yet.  
>AN: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality fic. As for my fic, all I have to say is: THEME WHAT THEME. By the way, the math doesn't work. At all. That's why it's a fallacy.  
>Disclaimer: I do not own HP, JKR does; Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality belongs entirely to Less Wrong.<p>

* * *

><p><span>The Fallacy of Division By Zero<span>

(All numbers equal other numbers; i.e. 2=1.)

It takes one to speak a prophecy.

One seer to make it; one spy to leak it; one fated to carry out the end-

No. That's not right.

* * *

><p>Harry Potter-Evans-Verres looks out of a telescope and out at the stars.<p>

After a second, he bends over a piece of parchment, dipping a quill into an inkwell, and starts to sketch out a diagram of the sky. Ink blots messily into stars, planets, and the moon; then it all gets distributed evenly across the page as the black starts to blend into words.

Constellations form when Harry connects the celestial bodies together.

(Harry remembers slipping into the cupboard under the stairs when it's night, pulling the cord on the light bulb hanging from the low ceiling. He remembers stretching across old coats and jumpers and boxes and looking up at the dust motes swirling in the darkness. Brilliant and beautiful and perfect and so _distant_, just like real stars, and there's no light pollution down here to cloud his view and, best strangest worst thing of all, _you don't need magic for this._)

* * *

><p>A green snake slips into the room, under the crack of the door.<p>

"_Sss..._" it hisses. "_Harry, sss..._"

Harry looks up from his parchment. He says, "_Hello, Professsor._"

The snake promises him the secrets of the universe: they'll find them all together.

* * *

><p>It takes one human form of a Patronus to kill a Dementor (<em>Death<em>).

It takes that single Patronus humanoid to block the Killing Curse.

Avada Kedavra: burst of green light brightening the darkness; green, the colour of Harry's eyes_ - you have your mother's eyes-_

Abracadabra: from the Aramaic language, meaning creation through speech - magic. To heal.

(Double-edged & double-sided-)

* * *

><p>Albus Dumbledore believes the Azkaban was broken into by either Lord Voldemort or Harry Potter-Evans-Verres. In the end, he concludes the former. For freeing Bellatrix Black took cunning and ruthlessness and very powerful magic, most likely dark.<p>

Even though the prison indicates traces of mercy as well as deception.

The answer is not one nor the other.

Who broke into Azkaban?

The answer is: both.

* * *

><p>Rationality blurs into intelligence which blurs into plans which blurs into plots which blurs into manipulation which blurs into shadow which blurs into darkness.<p>

It's not a foreseen ending.

Just a possibility.

There are many possibilities.

Harry Potter-Evans-Verres could have grown up with abusive stepparents. He could have been less logical, less calculating, and could have been sorted into Gryffindor along with Hermoine Granger. He would be friends with people like Ron Weasley, making rivals with people like Draco Malfoy. He could have stuck to Dumbledore's side without a doubt or a protest, heroically fighting the forces of darkness. Lord Voldemort would be fought each and every time; each and every time, Harry would win-

No. That's not it.

* * *

><p>It's strange how everything seems to come in threes.<p>

Length, width, height. Sine, cosine, tangent. Beginning, middle, end.

But Harry scoffs and draws an imaginary pyramid with his wand (_Lumos_), trailing words of a non-linear story down its faces.

Imperio, Crucio, and Avada Kedavra. Seer, spy, fated.

* * *

><p>It takes one to speak a prophecy.<p>

One seer to make it; one spy to leak it; one fated to-

Professor Quirrel whispers a secret in Harry's ear.

(The answer is: both.)

* * *

><p>They shape the prophecy as gods shape the stars.<p>

* * *

><p><p>

End.

* * *

><p>End Notes: Many thanks to Less Wrong for allowing me to borrow his ficverse for this short piece! :)<p>

The fallacy basically states that since, say, 0x1=0 & 0x2=0, shouldn't, when simplified, 1=2?


End file.
